Jennifer Lawrence has worked with David O. Russell as her director a lot, and Lawrence has had nothing but positive things to say about their relationship — even if outsiders might find their dynamic to be strange. For example, if I were in J-Law’s shoes, I think I’d be a little irritated if my director “accidentally” referred to me with a male pronoun, but Lawrence told Vogue last month that she sees it as a good quality:
Because I’m not so sensitive, we can really talk, like, man-to-man. Sometimes he accidentally refers to me as he or him. But he really respects and understands women, and by that I mean he doesn’t treat a woman any differently than he’ll treat a man. He would never tiptoe around a woman.
Getting seen as “one of the guys” might feel pretty important in a male-dominated industry (and, y’know, in a society that sees qualities like “leadership” and “strength” as inherently masculine). I can’t tell if that’s quite what’s going on here — we can’t possibly know everything about their working relationship from just one anecdote — but Lawrence’s mention of her own “not so sensitive” nature didn’t exactly instill me with confidence about the story that follows.
It’s clear that Lawrence must think this is an endearing story to tell about Russell, though, because she just told it again in a Hitfix interview:
Oh, David respects me so much that he will literally forget what sex I am. [laughs] He sometimes refers to me as a he without realizing it.
In the context of this interview, it felt like a go-to response to a question about her working relationship with Russell — almost as though it was the first thing that sprang to mind. Even if Lawrence doesn’t mind this sort of behavior, I think most of us can see why that particular quality might not seem so endearing to other actors who’ve worked with Russell — and it definitely doesn’t seem like a great example of “respect.”
For the record, I certainly don’t blame Lawrence for finding this funny as opposed to uncomfortable — but I do hope that Russell re-evaluates this habit of his. It seems like the sort of “mistake” that could make people feel unwelcome on a set.
(via Pajiba, image via Tumblr)
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